Antecedents and Performance Outcomes of the Marketing Integration Process in Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions: the Case of Malaysia and Indonesia

Abstract

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are strategic business expansions across national boundaries, which provide bundle of resources and opportunity for growth strategies, however can prove rather problematic and complex. One of the most complex stages in cross-border M&As is when two firms are in the integration process. The most challenging part in a cross-border M&A, is the integration of two different firms that feature different management styles and organizational cultures. Once the integration seeps deeper into functional levels, the strategic level M&A commitment is faced with operational implementation issues. The marketing department is usually heavily involved in this integration process. These are the people who create and generate the sales which thereby increase the income of the combined firm. However, research on marketing integration related to M&As has paid little attention to the amalgamation of similar resources from two similar departments, particularly in the cross-border M&A context. Furthermore, the existing research does not clearly demonstrate the success factors that contribute to the marketing integration process in cross-border M&As. Hence, this thesis explores the role of the antecedents that influence the marketing integration process in cross-border M&As. Results indicate a significant impact on integration from marketing synergy and the redeployment of marketing resources. Meanwhile there is a striking result pertaining to the relationship between interaction and the speed of integration which is significant but negatively to influence the marketing integration process. In addition, cost savings and relationship effectiveness among the marketers of both the acquirer and the acquired firms are found to be highly significant and to positively support the M&A performance. This means that the commitment of the marketers from both firms relies on a close relationship in order to uphold the integration synergy while at the same time reducing cost and improving M&A performance.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2011
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Rudolf R. Sinkovics (Supervisor) & Pervez Ghauri (Supervisor)